Riding Lessons
by Sandy87
Summary: A missing scene of sorts. Anyways, Jak doesn't know how to ride a Flut-Flut! What should've been just a normal lesson turns out to be something a bit...mushier. Another Jak/Keira fic.


Disclaimer: I'm sick of saying that I don't own J&D. You should know that by now, though. If I owned the game, Jak would have a voice, there'd be so much mush that you'd be sick to your stomach, and Daxter's lines wouldn't be half as funny (because I'm not that funny). So there. I don't own it. And I make diddly-squat. Off anything, INCLUDING this fic.  
  
A piece of fluff. Pure fluff. Mm...Flut-Fluts are fluffy! Well, not really. They're more feathery than anything. But, I can say they're fluffy if I want to, 'cause this is MY fic, and it obeys MY reality! So there. ::blows raspberry::  
  
Riding Lessons  
  
Jak walked in to the Blue Sage's messy lab with Daxter perched on his shoulder. He kicked a bundle of papers by accident, scattering what little effort in cleanup there had been. The ottsel jumped to the ground with a resounding thump!, startling Keira to some extent, or at least getting her attention. "Hey boys," she greeted them.  
  
"'Boys'?" Daxter repeated, as if he were hard of hearing. "Hey, babe, you're looking at a full-grown...er, something...something fuzzy..." He looked around helplessly, unsure of what to call himself. The Flut-Flut walked around Jak to peck at what she considered her 'mother' and to pull his tail, which looked to her like the world's biggest worm.  
  
Keira rolled her eyes at the furboy's remark, then her face lit up as she remembered what she had wanted to talk to them about. "With permission from our village birdwatcher, I've outfitted the baby Flut-Flut with a riding sadle. There's a transpad in the Boggy Swamp somewhere; if you can find it, I'll send you the Flut-Flut in full riding regalia. Her long jumps may come in hand when you're crossing the tar."  
  
Jak looked doubtfully as the young bird, who, at the moment, was trying to pull off Daxter's ears. He shook his head; he couldn't ride her. Sure, she was stout-bodied and strong-legged, but he just could not ride her, no matter what. He had seen the way she bounced in her stride, the way her run was more like a leap, and how she would jump when attacked. There was no place to put his feet that he could see; what was he supposed to do, let them dangle? He would loose his balance for sure on such a slippery bird, even with a thick leather saddle. There was no way he could ever ride her.  
  
"Jak? Hello, Keira to Jak! Are you there? Ja-ak!" she said, waving her hands in front of his face. He had been too busy worrying over how he couldn't ride the Flut-Flut to notice her. He shook it off and grinned at her, a silly, boyish grin. "What's wrong with you? You can ride, can't you?"  
  
He opened his mouth, then shut it. Embarrassment had caught him in its trap. He didn't want to tell her that he couldn't ride anything but a Zoomer, but at the same time he knew that he'd just end up looking like a fool and possibly injuring himself if he didn't. She'd find out one way or another; she was a smart girl. There was no way around it. Without a good excuse, he lowered his head and gave it a slight shake. No, he couldn't ride a Flut-Flut.  
  
She seemed slightly surprised, but she didn't make a cruel remark about it like some people might have. "Well," she began calmly, "I guess I'll have to teach you." He stole a panicy glance at Daxter, who was busy trying to get his goggles back from 'his' bird. He hadn't noticed a thing. "Oh, you're right, he would be a problem." She folded her right arm across he ribs and supported her left elbow, then rested her chin in her left hand. "Well, what if we did it at night? You know, while he was asleep." Jak scratched nervously behind his ear. That plan of hers just might work.  
  
As night fell, the foursome - five if you counted the Flut-Flut - asked one of the villagers with a larger hut to put them up for the night. He graciously agreed, especially on such short notice. Samos took the one guest bed, while Daxter found a drawer that suited him and made a sort of nest from blankets. Jak and Keira slept on opposite sides of the main room in sleeping bags. Perhaps 'slept' is not the right word, for neither one caght a wink. They both lay there in the quiet darkness, listening to Samos snore and waiting for Daxter to do the same. As soon as the ottsel gave a rumble, they would both sneak out as quietly as possible.  
  
They didn't have to wait long. For indeed, when Daxter was bored and quiet, Daxter was sleepy. He was soon making the thin curtain drawn accross the outside doorway shake with his nightime resperatory issues. On padded feet no heavier than a cat's, they stole out the door and down the cliffside. Keira would often misjudge her strength or the length of her limbs and slip; Jak had to catch her on more the one occasion. The path was small, and all the climbing ropes had been drawn up for the night. It amazed him that he, the village athelete, was surpassed in skill and ability by this frail-looking girl who could not even make her way safely down a rock face on her own. However, she had nerves of steel and enough sense not to scream when she lost her footing.  
  
Once they had decended the cliff face, they entered the Blue Sage's lab and, for the first time that night, Keira dared to speak, but it was only to quiet the Flut-Flut who had cawed in alarm. She shushed the sleepy bird as she fitted the tack on her, having trouble with the leather around her wings. Jak looked doubtfully at the bird; he really didn't think it was possible for him to ride one. Anyone else, sure, anyone else might be able to, but not him. He shook his head in an almost sad way as Keira climbed on and rode at as slow a pace as the playful Flut-Flut would go; he still had to run to keep up with her.  
  
"Woah, there. Good girl. Jak, come on. You can't be that tired. I mean, you did spend the whole day out in the Precursor Basin on the Zoomer, right?" He nodded.  
  
'She's right,' he thought. Then he smiled to himself. 'She's always right. I shouldn't be so tired. Or nervous.' He bit his lip gently, so as not to bite through it should he stumble. 'It's just a baby bird. A little chic. She wouldn't hurt me. Then again, maybe that's not what I'm worried about.'  
  
The two plodded on in silence broken only by their feet on the cool, dew-covered grass. The thunder had stopped during the early evening, and now not even clouds remained to tell of the storm that had threatened the day before. There was only a little path of chinks and ledges for Jak to climb up the smooth, slippery metal into the Basin, but Keira and the Flut- Flut were up in only a few light bounds. The boy thought how nice it must be to control something so graceful.  
  
"Now, do you think you can mount her on your own, at least?" Keira asked as she hopped off. He shook his head; he was almost scared of the Flut-Flut herself. Not that she would attack, but that she wouldn't realize her size relative to that of a person and cause an accident. "Here, look. Grab the saddle horn with your left hand, and put your right hand in the seat." He did as he was instructed, trusting her judgement alone. "Good. Now, jump up and almost sit on your hand, but move it at the last minute, okay?" He swallowed hard, feeling the hard lump of fear in his throat.  
  
'This is it,' he told himself. 'This is where I make a fool of myself. In front of Keira.' He gave the strongest jump he could from a still standing possition, which was more than enough, but only landed with his right arm caught under his heavy body at all the wrong angles and his torso layed across the bird's back like a sack of flour. "Ow," he winced as she helped him stand up right again. He shook his arm to test for injury and to get the feeling back into it.  
  
"I remember doing that..." she commented offhandedly. "Only I slid off onto my face on the other side." She gave his shoulder an encouraging pat. "Try again. Maybe it's just too dark." He did try again, for her sake. If it were left up to him, he'd never have even dreamed of getting on a Flut-Flut's back, much less a young one. He mananged to get up and seat himself on only the third try. "Hey, good job. You learn fast. But don't hold your legs so stiff; relax and let them hang natrally. Yeah, like that. Now, grab the reins and tap your foot against her. She'll go forward, so don't be surprised."  
  
"Yah-oompf!" He slid off to one side and fell over, landing on the wet grass and rolling onto his back. As best as he could tell, it was only about midnight. He gave a defeated moan and closed his eyes, a blank expression crossing his face. His small backpack, full of Power Cells, created a painful lump in the middle of his back. The Flut-Flut looked at him and cocked her head, trying to figgure out what this silly boy was doing.  
  
"Hey, don't give up so fast. You're actually doing pretty well." She sat down on a dry Green Eco chest. "Come on, Jak, get up." She nudged him with her toe. "Are you all right?" Worriedly, she squatted beside him and leaned over his face. "Jak?" He cracked an eye at her, already half-asleep. Then, in a very impulsive move, he flung his arm out and pulled her against him, then rolled over, pinning her to the ground. "Ow, get off, you're heavy!" He pushed himself up a little, supporting his weight on his elbows. This slight lapse in his concentration was all she needed to get the upper hand.  
  
"You know," she told him as she pulled both his arms behind his back and sat on them, "you really shouldn't do just whatever your opponent asks, even if you're just playing." She let him up, knowing that he could've thrown her off any time he pleased but didn't because she was no threat, then they both sat in the grass, their bodies wet with dew. "We should get back to teaching you to ride. We've only got a little time left, especially if we're going to get any sleep at all." 'Not that I'd mind spending all night out here,' she added to herself. 'It's actually kind of nice.' They stood up and brushed the grass off of themselves.  
  
They spent most of the night just trying to get Jak to stay on the Flut-Flut as she walked, then ran. He had a habit of falling off to one side or the other. At around four A.M., Keira tought him a quicker way to mount and dismount, one that required him to jump high. Then, just before dawn, Jak decided to investigate a climbing path he'd found but hadn't been able to follow on the Zoomer. He wasn't about to leave the hovercraft lieing around where the flying Lurkers could steal it, and by the time he'd dispensed of them, it was getting too late. He wondered where it lead to.  
  
"Hey, what about me?" Keira called as he began to climb. He returned, riding the Flut-Flut like an expert. "You're a real natural, Jak, you know that? Hey, how am I going to get up there? I can't really climb that well, you know." He thought for a moment, then slid back as far as he could on to the saddle's cantle and helped her on to the seat in front of him. He didn't want her in the back because he was a good deal heavier than she, and due to the slope of the bird's back, he would've slid into her and either squished her or forced her off.  
  
They rode in an amiable silence, but Jak had to exercise a great deal of self-control, because, to hold the Flut-Flut's reins, he had to put his arms around her waist. This necestitated that he lean over her shoulder to see. It was very hard for him not to give in to his teenage hormones. Keira, however, seemed to be almost asleep, quietly leaning against him, eyes closed in an almost blissful expression. He glanced at her every now and then from the corner of his eye; he wasn't aware of her ability to see througha tiny slit in her eye covered by her eyelashes. The greenish light of the moon outlined them against the velvety sky.  
  
At the top, the duo found a cliff overlooking the sea. They both got off the Flut-Flut, and Jak looped her reins over a rock that jutted out nearby. She cooed and settled down on her cloth-wrapped feet, resting her eyes and trying to sleep. The two humans sat right on the edge of the cliff, looking out at the sun as it streaked the grey-blue and purple sky with pink and vermillion. The water provided a mirror, giving the sunrise an encore. "Hey, Jak?" Their ear tips brushed as he turned to look at her and cock his head. "Never mind, it's not anything...anything important."  
  
The two friends sat there and watched the day dawn. Each was nervous of the same thing, too nervous to sense it in the other. The moments they had together were few and far between; Daxter liked to get in the way of things. They enjoyed each other's company an awful lot, but could not bring themselves to do anything about it. Fear of the six-letter "R" word had them caught in its snare. They both wanted the same thing, but neither was aware of the other's mutual feelings. However, for the moment, everything was perfect the way it was: they were together, the scenery was nice, and no one would interupt them.  
  
"Jak, um..." Keira tried again. She blushed and turned her face away. "Good job. You learned really well." 'Stupid, that's what you wanted to say.' It was now Jak's turn to redden. He tried to mumble a thanks, but he was too embarrassed. Not that he had done well, or even that she had complemented him, it was just...he couldn't put his finger on it, but something about the possition they were in embarrassed him. Here was a golden opportunity, golden like the sun they watched, and yet he was too dense to figgure it out. So, instead of fumbling with cumbersome words, he slid an arm around her shoulders and smiled gently. She returned the gesture with nothing less than pure elation, leaning against his warm shoulder and contemplating, not sleep in itself, but how nice it would be to fall asleep there. Indeed, there was something to be said for falling asleep on another's shoulder.  
  
  
  
Aw, sappy mush! Sorta one of those warm-'n'-fuzzy fics. It kinda fits into the story of the game (hey, they could've decided to keep it a secret so as not to attract unwanted attention), so you could call it a 'missing scene' of sorts. I have marshmallows. Feel free to speak your mind. Mm...toasted 'smallers... Nice reviews are welcomed as well, of course. Oh, and you may want to visit a dentist. They say too much sweetness rots your teeth (I tried to make the story seem kinda sweet. You know, the "aw" type. I was kinda thinking of something else as I wrote those last couple sentences. If you know what, or rather who, then good for you. If not, well, it's nonaya beeswax! Ja! 


End file.
